Lightning strikes Holyoke home

HOLYOKE - A lightning strike set a historic house at 1109 Dwight St. this morning.

The lightning struck the cupola of the three-story house at about 3:30 a.m. and it spread to much of the rest of the roof, said Deputy Fire Chief W. Tim Nelson.

It took about 21 firefighters from two units about 45 minutes to extinguish the blaze. They did keep it from spreading to the rest of the house so the first and second floors only faced water and smoke damage, he said.

"To fight a fire at a house like that is tough because you have a lot of nooks and crannies to deal with," he said.

Firefighters stayed at the scene until nearly 8 a.m. today ensuring the blaze was completely extinguished and had not spread to other areas, Nelson said.

The home is owned by Janis Casali but was not occupied at the time. Instead the family was living in a smaller renovated carriage house on the property.

A resident of the nearby Holyoke Towers apartment complex who was awakened by the storm saw the strike and reported it to the fire department, Nelson said.